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Heart Transplant Success Stories

Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC’s Heart Transplant program has been performing pediatric heart transplants since 1982. Our specialists have helped countless children whose lives were affected by congenital heart disease, cardiomyopathy, and other heart diseases.

Meet some of our patients whose lives have been improved by their experiences at Children’s Hospital.

Luke Maeding, 9 double-lung transplant	Luke Maeding: Breathing Easy A double-lung transplant gave Luke his life.
	Quality of Life Improves for Organ Transplant Recipients Cory Scott is living proof that critically ill children who undergo organ transplants are more likely to recover and return to school.
	Darrin Hall: Dilated Cardiomyopathy Darrin Hall's condition showed up “out of the blue” as catastrophic heart failure.
Kevin Christensen, 14 mononucleosis	Braveheart: Kevin Christensen Kevin’s team of cardiologists were concerned that he would die before a heart became available, but his doctors learned that a ventricular assist device could keep him alive while he was waiting.
Luke Ball, 7 complex congenital heart defect	Luke’s New Heart Luke Ball's new heart means a new life and new opportunities.
Mubarak Al-Kaabi, 5 dilated cardiomyopathy	International Patient Finds Hope and Healing in Pittsburgh Mubarak Al-Kaabi became the first child from the Middle East to receive a heart transplant at Children’s and also the first to be able to return to his home country afterward.
Abbey Shanah Bridgett, 8 heart failure	The Berlin Heart Keeps the Beat Prior to Heart Transplant Abbey Shanah Bridgett may have died, doctors say, if not for an experimental, child-size artificial heart pump that kept her alive while awaiting a heart transplant.